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Add me to the list of those inspired by this post. Used ten feet of ripstop with a structural ridgeline about eight feet long, got a hammock that reasonably-fits my six-foot, four-inch self. Now I just need to work out the bugnetting.

Thanks for the instructions, Knotty! (I reserve the right to blame you, later, for getting me into this hobby )

Floppy sides

So I made my first gathered end and have tried whipping it several times to eliminate the floppy sides. Then I read some more of this post and saw the shockcord side idea. I plan to do that on my current one rather than redo the ends again. Someone may have posted on this and I missed it but I am wondering if anyone has tried cutting/hemming the end channels in a curve then whip it straight across? The idea would be to have more fabric length in the middle than the edges. If anyone has tried it how much of difference from the edge to the center have they tried?

A pic of my current DIY hammock is attached. Fabric is nylon from JoAnn's. It is single layer and not ripstop. The whipping is gutted 330 paracord, I made the woopie slings with 1/8 Amsteel, and the ASR is 7/64 Amsteel I got from a PIF.

So I made my first gathered end and have tried whipping it several times to eliminate the floppy sides. Then I read some more of this post and saw the shockcord side idea. I plan to do that on my current one rather than redo the ends again. Someone may have posted on this and I missed it but I am wondering if anyone has tried cutting/hemming the end channels in a curve then whip it straight across? The idea would be to have more fabric length in the middle than the edges. If anyone has tried it how much of difference from the edge to the center have they tried?

A pic of my current DIY hammock is attached. Fabric is nylon from JoAnn's. It is single layer and not ripstop. The whipping is gutted 330 paracord, I made the woopie slings with 1/8 Amsteel, and the ASR is 7/64 Amsteel I got from a PIF.

So Someone may have posted on this and I missed it but I am wondering if anyone has tried cutting/hemming the end channels in a curve then whip it straight across? The idea would be to have more fabric length in the middle than the edges. If anyone has tried it how much of difference from the edge to the center have they tried?

Yes, I did, and posted on here. (I was just reading my post- please excuse the grammar/spelling, I must have been having one of "those" days). I went about 6" in from the sides and 2" down the length. Hemmed it, (which was not the prettiest) ran my line through the channel and pull it tight. Looks good now, you can't even see my hem.
I have both an ENO SN and DN, and like my DIY 1.9 ripstop gathered end the best. I have another made the same, but with 1.5 ripstop, and it feels like it has too much shoulder squeeze.

Knotty-TY TY TY TY. Made one of these yesterday. I was going to use the "whipped end" method. After hemming the edges, I thought I would review how to, and decided to take a close look at this method. Works great. The only problems I had were the sides were too "floppy", and there was a lot of pressure under my legs (calf area). So today, I uninjected the roll, and cut the corners. I measured down the length of the hammock about 2". I measures across the hammock about 6" and cut the triangle off. Injected it back up, was a little bit of a pain around the "corner" of the triangle, but worked out. After tieing the gather again you couldn't I couldn't see anything different from the first time. Hung it real quick to test and it felt a lot better. No pressure on the legs and not so floppy. Will have to test better at a later time to make sure.

Roadrunnr72,
I see, so you have about 48" in the center that is straight and the 6" on each side are tapered/angled. I hadn't thought of that. I was thinking from each side to the center but I see what you are saying about the pressure and shoulder squishing. I think I will give your method a try. Thanks.

So I know that all us outdoors types love shockcord and all the wonderful projects we can do with it. But wouldn't it be easier to use a length of elastic band sewn directly in the hem to take up the slack and look a bit cleaner?

*Heaven best have trees, because I plan to lounge for eternity.

Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgement. - Mark Twain